The invention concerns a ski brake having a bail rotatably mounted about a transverse axis that is fixed relative to the ski, which on one side of the axis of rotation has two brake arms extending alongside the ski and, on the opposite side of the axis of rotation, has a pedal engaging the bottom of the shoe, to which there is fastened at a point remote from the axis of rotation a deploying means which in every rotational position of the bail extends to a supporting surface on top of the ski, which in its entire length lies on the same side of the axis of rotation as the pedal, and which is resiliently biased relative to the pedal towards the deployed position of the bail, such that the deploying means swings the bail into the braking position wherein the brake arms project from the bottom of the ski and the pedal projects from the top side of the ski, and also such that, with the ski boot placed on the pedal, the bail is swung against the force of the deploying means to the inactive position in which the brake arms are situated alongside or above the ski and the pedal lies beneath the ski boot affixed in the ski binding.
In a known ski brake of this kind (U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,509), the bail consists of a single wire which is so bent that the two brake arms, the transverse axis of rotation, the pedal and the deploying means are formed from it. It is disadvantageous in this known construction that the wire used for making the bail has to fulfill the strength requirements of the brake arms as well as the spring properties required for deploying the bail into the braking position. It is thus impossible to adapt the wire material in an optimum manner to both of these requirements.